Friday, December 26, 2008

That's right, we went to Disneyland! The day after Christmas, we packed Serra into the car to drive 3 hours for a day of fun. Overall the day was a success- Ian and I got to ride some of the "adult" rides without Serra and we got to ride a lot of the "kid" rides with Serra. We also got to watch the parade and a princess storytelling by Snow White. I think it's safe to say that our trip to Disneyland was the best day of our trip to Ridgecrest. Below are some of my favorite pictures from our day.

Serra and I on a ride- I think it was Pirate of the Caribbean.

Ian and Serra waiting for our canoe ride. [We loved how the life jacket pushed Serra's cheeks up to her eyes.]

Serra taking a nap while we were walking through the park to our next destination.

Ian and Serra is the rocket for Astro Orbiter. Every time Serra saw the rockets spinning she would point and grab at the air saying she wanted to ride it. I wish I would have gotten a picture of her huge smile after the ride!

Serra and I with our Autopia driver licenses. :)

It was a bit of a tight fit in the car at Autopia.

By the end of the day, Serra was pooped, but we never got a picture of her with Minnie and her mouse hat- so this was the best we could do!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas with Ian's family. Christmas Eve I got to play "Santa" with the rest of the women- here is our stockings laid out on the couch.With 16 people, the Christmas tree was just a little crowded...Here we are Christmas morning with our Christmas Eve pajamas- and something a little extra. :)Serra was very excited about all the toys she got- before we left, we opened the big gifts and gifts from my family. Some of the presents opened then are a kitchen, table & chairs, shopping cart, Little People doll house, a new baby doll, and some cute outfits. In Ridgecrest with Ian's family, she opened up a mop and broom, vacuum, washer, books and tons more. Ian's main gift was a big stack of DVDs and PC games we bought at Black Friday sales. My main gift was a red Kitchenaid- that I am super excited to use!

We hope you all enjoyed the gifts you received- and giving gifts, too. But hopefully your Christmas season also included some wonderful spiritual aspects. On Christmas Eve, I went with some of Ian's family to see a live nativity outside of their chapel. I had never seen anything like it- they were just people standing in the cold dressed as Mary, Joseph, wise men, and shepherds. They didn't really do any acting except changing positions, smiling and nodding at each other. But their dedication to what they were representing was touching. The best part was when one of the kids there wanted a closer look at the baby Jesus. It was kind of out of place to have a child dressed in a down coat and pajama bottoms standing next to a manger with shepherds and wisemen, but soon all of the children there followed suit- and I couldn't help thinking about how we're supposed to be child-like. Would any of you have left the group to walk forward and look at the baby Jesus closer?

Friday, December 19, 2008

We leave for our Christmas break- you guessed it- TOMORROW! We're SO excited. Not just to get out of here, and to get presents, but also to see family [some who still haven't even seen Serra], to have time together- and apart [which is harder than it sounds with Ian working from home now]. The next two weeks should be filled with fun- we only hope that each of you also has a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Serra and I spent the day with Denise [one of Ian's aunts] in South Jordan baking up a storm. Serra had a pretty good time for the most part playing with Denise's youngest while we were busy. We managed to make Mounds, 2 kinds of fudge, Cherry Mash, cookies, Brownie Pops, Orange Juice Balls, and Gingerbread! It was a fun day, but man is my back aching! And now I have to get rid of some of these treats- or maybe I'll bring them on our trip to Ridgecrest and try to fatten up Ian's family. :)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

I'm participating in a Pay It Forward Exchange. Who wants to play? I will send a handmade gift to the first three people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward Exchange. You will receive your gift within a month from leaving your comment. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. I can't guarantee it will be anything amazing, but who cares if it is FREE! Remember, you have to have a blog to participate and must Pay it Forward on your site as well. Who's ready to play? Please leave your e-mail in a comment if I don't already have it.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Well, I thought I should finally update those of you who haven't seen us in the last month... we got a letter in the mail from a car dealership stating that they would give us above market for our car if we traded it in... and below market for a brand new or used car on their lot. So we thought we had nothing to lose and went in to see how fair a deal they'd give us. What we didn't expect was to come home with a van! We got a 2008 Chevy Uplander for less than half the price and they gave us almost double what our little 2005 Chevy Aveo was worth! We love our new van- it's fully loaded with all the bells and whistles. And Serra loves watching movies on the DVD player while we drive- especially at night. Also, her car seat is on a captain's chair so it's a little higher up than she's used to and she can actually see completely out the window! So we're all thrilled. Here are some pictures I took today, but we've had the van since the end of November- we were keeping it a surprise for our Thanksgiving and Christmas vacation, but decided we've waited long enough!

Also, I have been kind of sick of wearing ponytails everyday, but I didn't have the time or the energy to waste on doing my hair each day. So I went to a new stylist and paid the most I've ever paid for a haircut [not hard to do since I would go to the student places here and use coupons...] but I LOVE it! There are so many ways to style it- and it just takes a few minutes and sometimes a little product. Here's one of the styles I wear it in most of the time. [It's also dyed black, but my sister Paige did that for me a couple months ago... I need to redo my roots]. Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, but our camera is kind of on the fritz.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

We decided to go out tonight and took Serra with us. Ian and I have always been fans of Olive Garden, but now we're hooked! Not only do they have the BEST appetizer [Caprese Flatbread] but they also give you salad and breadsticks with any meal purchase- and they have the BEST salad! So, we order Manicotti to share and load up on breadsticks and salad. And we decided to try the Chicken Flatbread this time. Turns out he accidentally ordered the Caprese when he punched in our order- so they gave us the Caprese AND the Chicken Flatbreads- BOTH for free for our "troubles"! Insane! So we each ended up taking two bites of our manicotti and brought it home- with some leftover breadsticks and Caprese Flatbread. Then, to top it all off, Serra even decided to love their food- she kept pulling Ian's salad plate over so she could steal lettuce, tomato, olives and croutons! She even ate boths flatbreads and breadsticks too. Then after we were waiting for the check, she decided to try the manicotti and ate a few bites of it! This was certainly the easiest it's ever been to please her with food- so from now on, if we're going out as a family it's to Olive Garden we go!

I finally got our Christmas tree up- it's a huge tree and takes a lot of effort and time [especially because I can only do it when Serra is asleep or she'll get tangled up in the branches and lights!] Since we won't even be home for Christmas, we decided to just do the tree and lights [and I don't want Serra taking ornaments off and bringing them to me throughout the day!] But it's still a pretty amazing tree- and we almost have all of our presents under there [man they sure look bigger now that we get toys, etc. for Serra... our presents were always so small before!] :) And yes, there are a few spots without lights, after getting the tree up a few strands decided to not work. And I've been too lazy to replace them yet!

Also, today I was putting out all of our other Christmas decorations while Serra finished her breakfast and she immediately wanted down to help me. So I decided to let her help a bit- and here's what she decorated all by herself [our favorite is Santa's sleigh flying straight up].

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Well, no one RSVP'd that I sent invitations to [which said to RSVP on them]... so I called around and everyone said they couldn't [or wouldn't] make it. So the party is a no go- for now at least. I had all kinds of goodies made and we were ready to have fun playing games, but it just wasn't meant to be I guess! And now I'm at a loss, because I was going to use my Host credit towards Christmas gifts- so I guess some people just won't get these new awesome games this year. :) Anyway, we're thinking about trying again next month- but this time I'm going to ask people what day would be good for them BEFORE setting the date! I'll let you know when I have it scheduled!